


YellowBrickRoad

by the_huffster



Series: Safe in the Dark [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Eventual and slight Buffy/Giles, F/M, Gen, Horror, Season 5 AU, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-02
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2019-01-28 12:37:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12606784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_huffster/pseuds/the_huffster
Summary: On a camping trip, the Scoobies stumble upon a hidden hiking trail, named YellowBrickRoad, with a weird backstory to it. Once they trek down the trail, nothing is as it seems.





	1. Chapter 1

Giles smiled as he listened to the playful bickering in the SUV he had rented for their trip. A few months ago, he had overheard the Scoobies talking about a weekend camping trip at some point and suggested a weekend of camping and hiking away from the Hellmouth. After looking at places and working around everyone's schedules, the four had packed up in the Expedition and made their way to the are they would be spending the weened.

“Do we really have to listen to this crap?” Xander asked from the back, leaning up into the front and staring at Giles. “I’m all for rock music but…no one listens to classic rock anymore.”

“It doesn’t matter what’s on the radio, Xand. We’re here,” Buffy said as she playfully shoved him out of the front.

Giles pulled to a stop in front of the trail the group was going to hike. He looked out the window at the vast expanse of trees while the others got out of the vehicle and began unpacking, their laughter drowning out the faint bird chirps coming from the woods. When he had been looking for places for their weekend getaway, this was the only one he could find that was the most suitable for their needs- hiking trails, clearings for a campsite, little to no animal attacks…the only thing about the area that bothered the Watcher was the low number of campers and hikers. But, then again, this place was completely out of the way. So much so that they had nearly gotten lost several times and almost missed the turnoff to the grassy area they were parked at now.

The older man jumped slightly in his seat when Willow appeared in front of him, a sheepish smile coming to her face when she realized she had scared him. “Sorry, Giles.” She said on the other side of the window.

“It’s alright, Willow.” He smiled as he got out of the Expedition finally. “Is everything unpacked?”

“Yeah, no thanks to you.” Buffy mumbled as she tossed him his gear. “What took you so long getting out of the car?”

“I was just surveying the area.”

“From the car?”

“Don’t question the G-Man, Buff.” Xander grinned as he wrapped his arm around his friend’s shoulders. “I got your back, big guy.”

The Watcher just glared at the young man before shouldering his pack and heading towards the start of the trail. He pocketed the SUV’s keys once he made sure it was locked and turned to watch as his three young friends walked over to him, Willow bringing up the rear as she scribbled something in a notebook.

“What’s that, Will?” Buffy asked as the red head put away the notebook.

“Oh. Nothing really. I just thought it might be a good idea to track how many miles we walk and the times we stop to make camp.” She explained. “That way we know how long it takes us to walk from point to point because, hey, you never know when that kind of information might be important.”

Xander chuckled and wrapped his arm around Willow’s shoulder, saying something that Giles couldn’t hear as Buffy began talking next to him. He shook his head and turned to face his slayer, trying to focus on what Buffy was saying. He was finally able to realize what she was talking about when the other two Scoobies walked up to them, Xander slowly beginning to walk into the woods.

“So how long are we walking for?” Willow asked as they followed Xander, Buffy running up to keep him company.

“Until the sun starts going down. It won’t be safe for us to try to walk the trail in the dark.” Giles answered, looking over at Willow. “And since we have four days, we’ll start heading back towards the car on Sunday.”

She just nodded and fell into easy conversation with the Watcher as they walked along the trail. They walked for thirty minutes, joking and laughing, before pausing in a small clearing to catch their breath and have a water break. Giles grabbed his water from his pack, dropping the pack to the ground and leaning against a tree. Willow sat on her pack and took a drink of her water, continuing her conversation with Xander as Buffy walked over to Giles. She nudged his shoulder as she looked around the area.

“This is actually really nice,” she said. “I didn’t think hiking was a good idea for the camping trip but…”

Giles laughed as she shrugged. His eyes followed Xander as the young man walked around the area, disappearing into the trees for a moment. A few moments later, he came back out and grinned at his friends.

“Who’s up for walking down a hidden trail?” he asked, gesturing behind him with his head.

“What do you mean?” Buffy asked, grabbing her pack and walking towards her friend.

“I found this trail back there, and…I think it’d be interesting to walk that.”

Willow and Giles grabbed their packs and walked over as well, following Xander as he led them to the trail he had found. The Watcher walked to the beginning of the trail and noticed how unused it looked. Either the trail had been forgotten by hikers and campers, or it was unused due to safety reasons. Something to the right of their group caught his eye. Without saying a word, he walked over to the small slab of concrete and knelt down, brushing leaves and dirt off the top.

“That’s…interesting.” He looked over his shoulder to see his Slayer standing behind him.

“What does YellowBrickRoad mean?” Willow asked from Giles’ other side.

“No way…” Xander said in awe, kneeling on the other side of the slab and smiling softly. “You guys know about this, right?”

When the three of them just looked blankly at him, a goofy grin came across the young man’s face.

“You mean, for once I’m the knowledge guy here? Is the end of the world coming soon or something because I’m never knowledge guy. Let’s just take this minute to bask in the moment…”

“Xander, just tell us what the hell this is.” Buffy cut him off.

“Oh, right. Well about seventy years ago a town nearby this trail just up and abandoned their homes, walking along a trail that they called YellowBrickRoad. I don’t know how, but the military found out about this disappearing town and sent a search party for the citizens.” He explained as he stood up, looking over his shoulder and down the beginning of the trail.

“Did they find them?”

“Kind of. They found some of them frozen to death, and others were mysterious slaughtered and ripped limb from limb.” He continued. “And the rest of the town, they never found.”

“You’re making that up,” Willow said, following Xander as he slowly began walking down the trail.

“I am not! Look it up,” he defended. “It actually happened.”

“How did you hear about it?” Buffy asked, following her friends.

“I get bored over the years and look up random things. I stumbled upon that story a few years back and…it fascinated me.” He shrugged. “So it’s been a little side research project for me.”

Giles shook his head as he listened to the three of them talk, Willow and Buffy giving Xander a hard time. He chuckled as Xander grumbled about the teasing, following the Scoobies down the new trail.


	2. Chapter 2

"So this town that disappeared down this trail, were there any survivors at all?" Giles asked as he finished helping Xander set up their tent.

“There’s no definite answer but there were stories about a survivor.” The young man nodded and stood up from making sure the tent was secured to the ground. “Supposedly, the military found a man from the town and so they took him back with them and cleaned him up. After they gave him a day to settle, they tried asking him what happened to everyone.”

“What did he say?”

“Nothing. The guy was nuts. Mumbling, repeating words, spazzing over things only he could see…the only thing that made sense out of his mouth was the words, ‘It took them’.”

The Watcher narrowed his eyes at the words, his senses automatically going on alert. Before he could ask anything else, Xander was off to help Buffy and Willow with their tent. He made a mental note to ask Buffy if she was sensing anything once he got the chance. He turned and walked towards the slope of the valley they had decided to camp near. At some point during their hike, they had left the woods and began walking through some sort of field with minor hills- which made no sense to Giles. The whole area should have been woods and nothing else, and yet there they were making camp in an area that was definitely not woods.

He stood there for a while longer until he heard his name being called, turning around to head back to the others. The fire had already been built and all they were waiting for was for the sun to finally set. Giles sat down next to Buffy and took the offered trail mix, thanking her softly. The group spent the next half hour talking about this and that, biding their time until it was time to get the fire going. It took longer than it should have to start the fire because Xander had insisted on being the one to start the fire before Willow stepped in and gotten the job done in a matter of seconds.

“Stupid magic,” Xander grumbled as he glared at the fire he had failed to start.

“It’s okay, Xand. Fire just isn’t your thing,” Willow smiled as she patted his shoulder.

“Yeah, just like technology isn’t Giles’ thing.” Buffy added, shrugging her shoulders at the look her Watcher gave her. “Well, it isn’t.”

Giles just rolled his eyes and threw a bag of marshmallows to Xander, saying something about making s’mores. When Giles had pulled out the chocolate, Buffy snatched them from him and placed them on the other side of her.

“Oi!” he looked over at the Slayer and narrowed his eyes.

“You are not in charge of the chocolate, Giles. It’ll be gone before we can even make any s’mores.” She explained as she handed him the graham crackers. “You get to be in charge of these bad boys.”

Giles glared at her before glaring down at the box of crackers. They spent the next several hours eating s’mores and telling tales, which shortly turned into seeing who could scare everyone the best. Surprisingly, the contest had gotten down to Giles and Xander- not that Giles really seemed to care. But the smack talk that the younger man would throw out in between each story fuelled the Watcher to keep going. Buffy and Willow munched on the graham crackers as they listened to the stories.

“And then…” Xander trailed off as he straightened up, looking around them slightly.

Willow looked at Xander, narrowing her eyes as he continued looking around. Buffy looked at Giles and tilted her head slightly at Xander’s sudden behavior. The three continued to watch him as he slowly stood up and began walking away from the fire.

“Hey, Xander.” Buffy called as she stood up, taking a step towards him. “Where are you going?”

“Xander!” Giles yelled when he didn’t answer Buffy.

Willow jumped to her feet and went after her friend, grabbing his arm when he showed no sign of responding to any of them. Giles squinted his eyes as he tried to see what Xander was doing, but he was too far away from the fire to see anything. Buffy and Giles stood for several minutes as they waited for any sign that Willow needed help.

“Everything okay, Xand?” they heard Willow ask as she helped Xander back to the tents.

“Yeah.” He nodded absently as he continued to look around. “Hey, did anybody hear that?”

“Hear what?” Buffy asked.

“That music.”

“Music?” the Wicca asked, concern showing on her face as she looked at her best friend.

Xander just nodded as he sat back down, occasionally looking around. Giles kneeled next to the younger man and looked around with him. He hadn’t heard anything, but Xander seemed positive that there had been music.

“What did the music sound like, Xander?” he asked softly.

“I dunno. Kinda…swing band-ish?” he rubbed the back of his neck and looked at everyone. “It sounded like something from the thirties.”

There was a moment of silence before Buffy let out a small laugh. “Okay, Xand. I think you’re letting your stories get to you,”

“I’m being serious, Buffy. I heard music,” he looked up at her. “I don’t know how you guys didn’t hear it because it was loud.”

“There was no music, Xander.” Willow said softly.

He looked at the three of them before getting to his feet, running his fingers through his hair.

“I, um…I think I’m gonna go to bed.” He said softly as he walked to the tent he was sharing with Giles, climbing in without another word.

The three remaining Scoobies stared at the tent for a minute before turning back to face each other. No one said a word, instead alternating between staring at the fire and each other. There was no sound expect for the crackling of the wood and the occasional rustle of Xander moving in his sleeping bag.

“So you think Xander was just saying that to try and freak us out? ‘Cause, gotta say, it kinda worked.” Willow said after a while, her eyes trained on the fire.

“Probably,” Buffy shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. I think he just let his story about that disappearing town get to him. What do you think, Giles?”

“I’m not sure. Whatever it was, he seems to actually believe there was music playing somewhere.” He sighed before looking at Buffy. “Buffy, have you sensed anything at all today?”

“You mean like anything Hellmouth-y?” when the Watcher nodded, she shook her head. “No. But I’ll let you know if I do.”

He thanked her and they spent the next several minutes making small conversation before deciding to go to bed. They had an early start in the morning and, even though none of them wanted to admit it, they were feeling uneasy after Xander’s episode. Within twenty minutes, the fire was out and everyone was doing their best to fall asleep.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He didn’t know what time it was, but the very loud sound of old timey music had woken Giles up. He covered his ears and noticed Xander doing the same, stumbling out of the tent. The Watcher followed him and saw Buffy and Willow falling out of their tent, their hands covering their ears as well.

As soon as he had gotten out of the tent, he collapsed to the ground under the weight of the music in his head. He closed his eyes and did his best to cover up his ears as best as he could, his teeth grinding together as his skull felt like it was being ripped in two. There was no telling how long the music lasted, but when it finally began to fade to nothing Giles wanted nothing more than to curl up and hide in a dark corner. His head was pounding and his vision just wouldn’t focus. Somewhere over the ringing in his ears, he heard Buffy call his name. He only lowered his hands when his Slayer knelt next to him.

“What happened?” she said rather loudly, no doubt her ears ringing just as loud as his were.

“I don’t know.” He shook his head as he sat up, closing his eyes as a wave of nausea washed over him.

He turned to look for Willow and Xander, his eyes noticing the way Xander was staring out at nothing as the redhead sat next to him while wiping blood from her nose. He was only aware of the small trickling sensation near his ear when Buffy said something about blood coming from his ear.

It was several minutes before the ringing finally died down, everyone having seemed to recover in that time. Willow’s nose bleed seemed to have stopped as suddenly as it had happened- the same with Giles’ bleeding ear- and Xander seemed to come out of the semi-catatonic state the music had sent him in.

“You believe me now?” the young man asked as he began taking down the tents with Buffy, neither one suffering from any effects from the music; something that Willow and Giles weren’t so lucky to escape.

All Giles could do was nod.


	3. Chapter 3

They had been walking for nearly three hours and the mysterious music had yet to make a reappearance- although Xander would mutter every thirty minutes or so about the music playing. Willow was walking ahead with Xander, who seemed determined to outrun something only he was aware of while Giles and Buffy brought up the rear, the Watcher’s senses still on alert from their morning wake up call. He could feel Buffy’s eyes on him and knew she was worried, not only about them but about the choice to continue down the trail. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something was leading him further down the trail. And that alone put him even more on edge.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Giles?” Buffy asked softly, her eyes trained on Xander’s tense posture as he walked.

“Buffy, have I ever put any of you in danger?” he asked once he had finished his sip of water.

“No, but with what happened this morning and with Xander’s behavior I don’t think being on here is a good idea.”

“Buffy, we’re heading back tomorrow morning.” Giles sighed as he looked over at her. “And unless you’re sensing something, I don’t see a reason to turn back and cut our trip short.”

She just looked at him before shaking her head and picking up her pace to catch up to Willow and Xander. Giles sighed as he watched her pull ahead of him. He had no idea where the words had come from or why he had said them but there was nothing he could about it now. And clearly Xander was on his side from what he could see of the three young adults. He watched as the younger man stormed away from the two women, yelling over his shoulder about how he was going to continue walking the trail with or without them.

When Willow and Buffy looked over their shoulders at him, Giles just shrugged and continued walking to try and catch up with Xander.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Giles followed Buffy with his eyes as she walked over to the large rock Xander had perched himself on, the Slayer sitting next to her friend. They had set up camp and were just waiting for the sun to set to start the fire. There wasn’t much of a change in Xander’s behavior, except for his outburst when his irritation had built up. Giles had even debated on having them turn back to get off the trail, but he could never voice the thought whenever he would go to tell the others.

“Hey, Giles…can I talk to you?” Willow asked from the other side of the unlit fire.

“Of course you can, Willow.” He narrowed his eyes slightly when she stood up and hurried off to her tent, coming back with her notebook in hand.

She sat next to him and began flipping through the book, settling on the page with numbers all over the paper. “Remember how I was keeping track of how many miles we travelled?” she looked at him, continuing when he nodded. “Well…we have a problem.”

“A problem?”

“Yeah. See…the numbers add up when you go from our first day to now.” She explained as she ran her fingers along a series of calculations she had done. “But when you try to add the numbers from today back to our first day…”

Giles watched as her finger ran along another line of calculations, his hand grabbing the notebook when he saw the number. His eyes darted from the two sets of calculations before looking at the other sets. His confusion grew with every result he saw.

“What am I looking at, Willow?” his voice was barely above a whisper as he continued looking at the numbers.

“According to any addition you do from today to yesterday, we’ve travelled more miles than we actually have.”

He looked up at the trace of fear he heard in the red head’s voice. The Watcher pulled the pen out of the spiral and did his own addition, his teeth gritting in frustration when his numbers never matched up. It didn’t make sense- he knew Willow’s equipment wasn’t faulty; he had seen her check it before they left the SUV. Shaking his head, Giles set about trying to make the numbers add up again. He even went as far as making minor changes to numbers.

“This is impossible,” he growled as he threw the notebook and pen to the ground, his fingers raking through his hair.

“Giles…I’m scared.” Willow whispered. “Something’s going on and…”

“It doesn’t matter, Willow.” He said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll be fine. We’re heading back in the morning and everything will be alright.”

“Promise?”

He opened his mouth to answer when a strangled cry cut him off. The two looked over to see Xander doubled over, his hands covering his ears. Giles and Willow ran over as Buffy tried to calm Xander down, stumbling back when he shoved her off of him.

“Don’t touch me!” he yelled, backing away from his friends. “Can’t you hear it?”

“Xander…there’s nothing to hear.” Willow said calming, taking a small step towards him.

“You’re lying! How can you not hear the music?” he looked up at her, confusion and distrust showing in his brown eyes. “Why are you lying to me, Will?”

“She’s not lying, Xander. There’s no music.” Giles stepped up, hoping he could calm the young man down.

“Stop lying to me! I can hear the fucking music!” he stood up straight, glaring at them.

The three of them just stayed still, not wanting to set Xander off. Minutes passed and all Xander did was stare at them, his hands still covering his ears as he mumbled about the music under his breath. Buffy slowly made her way to Xander, a hand tentatively reaching out towards him.

“Xand…it’s okay.” She said softly.

“No!” he pushed her back and stumbled back away from her, fear in his eyes as he looked around him wildly. “The music’s getting louder. The bad man’s coming…I…we need to hide.”

“Hide?” Willow furrowed her brow. “Xander!"

The three Scoobies watched as he took off for the surrounding woods, yelling about how “the bad man” couldn’t find him if he hid.

“He can’t be out there alone,” the Wicca said, looking from Giles to Buffy. “It’s dark and…Xander’s not at his best.”

“He’ll hurt himself.” Buffy agreed. “Come on, Will. Giles can stay here in case Xander comes back.”

“Be carful,” Giles warned.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The sun had set an hour ago and Giles hadn’t seen any sign of Xander. There had been some noises in the woods behind him, but it had turned into nothing more than a small animal. Giles had even searched the woods by the tent until the sun had set and sent the area into darkness. The more time that passed, the more he was becoming worried about Willow and Buffy’s safety as well as Xander’s.

At the sound of leaves crunching, the Watcher shot to his feet and faced the woods. His body prepared for a fight as whatever was making the noise came closer to the tree line. He took a few steps closer and let out a breath of air when Willow stumbled through the trees.

“We found him,” she panted before grabbing Giles’ hand and leading him back to where he assumed Buffy was with Xander.

It only took them a few minutes until they reached the Slayer, Giles barely able to make out her form ahead of him. He stopped by her side and turned to look at her, his hand coming up to touch small patch of what he guessed was blood on her temple.

“Buffy, are you alright?” he asked softly.

“Yeah, Xander just whacked me with a stick.” She motioned to a spot before her.

That was when Giles noticed the dark form peeking from behind a tree. He narrowed his eyes and was just able to make out Xander hiding behind the trunk. The Watcher was aware of Willow taking a few steps closer before his arm shot out and held her back.

“Giles…” she began, stopping when he shook his head.

“Xander, it’s Giles.” He said slowly, taking a step towards the younger man.

“Buffy’s hurt.” Xander’s voice sounded from behind the tree.

“But she’s alright.”

“I thought she was the bad man,” the younger man explained, a small tremble in his voice. “I didn’t mean to hurt her, Giles. It’s just…the music was so loud and the bad man was coming…”

“I know, Xander. But the music’s stop and the bad man isn’t here.” Giles assured him, lowering his voice as he reached him. “We have to get back to the tents now. We’ll make sure the bad man doesn’t come,”

Xander stared at him, trying to decide if he could trust Giles before slowly nodding his head in agreement. They walked back to where Buffy and Willow were standing.

“Sorry, Buff.” Xander said, giving her a sheepish smile.

She just gave him a smile before the group made their way back to where the tents were, neither Giles nor Willow commenting on how it seemed the walk back was taking much longer than it had taken when they left the tents.

Once they reached the tents, Xander had decided to go to bed and Willow had opted to stay with him until Giles went to bed. Slayer and Watcher sat in front of the fire, Buffy leaning against Giles’ shoulder.

“What do you think that was that happened to Xander?” she asked softly.

“I’m not sure,” he sighed, his arm holding her close to him.

They sat in silence before a thought occurred to Giles.

“Buffy, if Xander ran into the woods on the other side of the field, how did he end up behind us?”

She looked up at him, her brow furrowed as she tried to come up with a reason as to how that had happened. She finally whispered that she didn’t know before scooting closer to him, whispering how she couldn’t wait until they headed back in the morning. Something that Giles agreed with.


	4. Chapter 4

Giles sat up, his eyes frantically glancing around the tent. He didn’t know what it was, but there was something near by that was causing his chest to tighten with fear and make his heart hammer against his rib cage. He closed his eyes and tried to calm down, muttering that there was nothing there and it was all in his head. But no matter how many times he told himself nothing was there, the feeling wouldn’t go away.

Giles was so focused on trying to calm himself down that he failed to realize that Xander was awake and sitting in the far corner of the tent.

“The bad man’s coming,” Xander said, not even phased by the jump Giles gave. “He’s coming for me and he’ll hurt everyone.”

The Watcher looked at the younger man and took in the lack of an expression on his face. He went to move closer but stopped when Xander scrambled back further into the corner, his eyes turning towards Giles. The dead look on his friend’s face caused the dread in the older man’s chest to intensify. A moment passed before the dead look unnerved Giles to the point where he needed to leave the tent.

He slowly began scooting towards the opening of the tent, his gaze never leaving Xander. There was something about the blank look on the younger man’s face that made the dread build. And the further he moved back, the more it seemed like the dead look grew. As soon as his back hit the closed flap, Giles fumbled with unzipping it while still maintaining eye contact with Xander. He tumbled out of the tent and scrambled back as far as he could and still keep the younger man in his line of sight.

For some reason, he found himself not trusting Xander. And he couldn’t bring himself to reenter the tent, not when Xander was staring at him with that dead look. He wasn’t sure how long he sat outside the tent but he was finally aware that the sun had risen when Buffy knelt next to him, her hand resting on his shoulder. He gave a small jump before tentatively tearing his gaze away from the tent to look at his Slayer. There was concern on her face as she took in his disheveled state and the fear in his eyes.

“Giles, what’s wrong?”

“I couldn’t sleep.” Was all he said as his eyes went back to the tent just in time to see Willow duck into the canvas to wake up Xander. “There was something bad in the tent.”

“There’s only Xander in there, Giles. And Xander isn’t bad.” She rubbed his back in comfort before helping him to his feet. “Come on, you can help me take care of my tent.”

Giles nodded slightly before turning to follow Buffy. By the time they had taken down the tent, it was almost as if his earlier state of fear had never happened. Within the hour, the four were off to head back towards the SUV.

“Hey, guys.” Willow spoke up as they made their way to the clearing. “Wasn’t the clearing on the other side yesterday?”

Giles looked at the clearing before looking back to the tree line behind them. He had a feeling Willow was right but before he could say so, Buffy had spoken up that she was sure they were heading in the right direction.

“A clearing in the woods isn’t going to move.” She said, a weak laugh following her statement.

It was clear that Buffy was thinking the same as Willow but didn’t want to say so. After all, a clearing in the trees couldn’t move like that. So they began making their way back to the clearing, Xander trailing behind. He was constantly looking around and fell more behind the closer they approached the clearing.

“This isn’t the right way.” The young man said franticly and stopped walking completely. “This isn’t the way back.”

“Xander?” Willow asked as they turned around to face him, the red head walking over to him. “This is the way we came last night,”

He just shook his head and looked behind him, almost as if he was debating about making a run for it. Buffy and Giles just looked at him as they tried to figure out how to get him to see that they were going the right way.

“This isn’t the way. He wants us to go this way,” Xander continued as he looked back at his friends. “That’s how he gets people. There’s no good down the YellowBrickRoad.”

“Xander, who are you talking about?” Buffy asked, glancing at Giles before walking back to Xander.

“Isn’t it obvious?” was the only answer he gave before repeating that they needed to turn back and go the right way.

The discussion lasted for a few more minutes, and Giles could see that Xander become more and more irritated that he wasn’t getting his way. The Watcher noticed a small change in the younger man’s eyes and panic set in.

“We’ll head this way for an hour. And if we don’t come across any of our landmarks, we’ll head back and go your way.” He spoke up, looking Xander in the eye. It was almost as if Giles was begging with his friend to agree.

After what seemed like several minutes, Xander nodded in agreement. He stomped up to Giles and just gave him a look that made the older man take a step back before continuing down the path. Willow wasted no time in running to catch up with her best friend, leaving the Watcher and Slayer to follow behind them.

Giles couldn’t keep from constantly glancing around as he walked, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end. Between the look Xander had given him and the feeling of panic that had settled over him, he found himself on edge. And the feeling only grew the further along the trail they walked.

“Giles, you okay?” Buffy’s voice made him jump slightly, which only caused the concern on her face to grow.

“I’m fine,” he assured her, trying to force his rapidly beating heart to calm down.

“You sure? You’ve been pretty…jumpy lately.” She said as she looked over at him, noticing the look of panic on his face. “Maybe you and Xander should get checked out once we get out of here.”

“Checked out?” he narrowed his eyes.

“Yeah, by doctors. You guys aren’t acting like yourselves and it’s starting to wig me and Will out.” She explained, stopping when she noticed the other two stop ahead of them.

Giles was just about to respond when he heard the music from the day before surge up, his hands covering his ears as he dropped to his knees. He could barely hear Buffy next to him as she held on to a tree for support, yelling something to him. He tried to read her lips, but the pain in his head was so great he couldn’t keep his eyes open.

He curled up on his side as his fingers clawed at his ears, almost as if he was trying to rip his ears off to escape the music. His eyes closed against the growing pain. Nothing mattered to the Watcher except getting away from the music. The noise grew louder when he felt hands on him, which caused him to lash out at whoever was touching him.

He heard his name being yelled in the distance, and he somehow managed to open his eyes against the splitting pain to see Buffy standing next to him. She was trying to get him to his feet, motioning to somewhere behind him. Giles rolled over to see Xander running away from them and Willow chasing after him. Buffy continued to pull on him until he finally stumbled to his feet, the Slayer helping him follow their friends.

It was taking everything Giles had to keep running even though the music was threatening to split his head open. All he wanted was to lie down and either wait for the music to end or just let it kill him, but Buffy’s hands encouraging him to run wouldn’t let him lie down. So instead, he continued running after Willow and Xander’s figures.

At some point, the music had faded away into complete silence and the pain had dulled. Willow’s voice yelling after Xander was becoming more and more faint, despite the fact that she wasn’t any further ahead than when Giles and Buffy followed her. The pain was quickly being replaced by fear as he noticed how all sound completely stopped.

“Giles? Come on. We can’t lose Willow and Xander.” Buffy said when she noticed that he had stopped moving.

“We need to leave.” Was all he said, not even realizing the blood trickling from his ear.

“No. We need to catch up,” she said as she grabbed his hand, pulling him forward.

“Buffy, please.” He begged, looking at her. “We need to leave and get back on the trail.”

The pure terror in his eyes was what made Buffy agree to head back the way they had come until they were back on the path. She was about to question him when he looked at her, his hands on her shoulders.

“Promise me that you won’t make me go back in there, Buffy.” Giles said urgently, his eyes never leaving hers.

“Alright.” She said softly as she wrapped her arms around him, trying to comfort him. “I promise not to make you go back in there.

“And you can’t go in there either,” he added as he clung to her. “You can’t leave me.”

“I won’t.” she promised, kissing his temple. “Let’s just sit here for a while and rest, okay?”

Giles just nodded and sat down, his back against a tree. He still held on to Buffy as if his life depended on it. Buffy couldn’t help but worry about what had gotten her Watcher so worked up. But she had a feeling that both Giles and Xander’s present states had something to do with the trail they were on.


	5. Chapter 5

They had been walking along the trail for hours, and not once had they had come across the landmarks they had made on their journey. Nor had they heard or seen any sign of Willow and Xander. They reached a small field and sat down on the grass. The sun was setting, which meant they had to stop for the night. Buffy wouldn’t have had any issues going ahead and trying to find their friends, but Giles had gotten that panic stricken look on his face that concerned her when she told him she was thinking of walking a little bit to find Willow and Xander.

So instead, she set up a tent for them and got a small fire started once the night sky came out. The only sound was that of the fire crackling and Giles’ rapid breathing. Buffy watched as her Watcher frantically looked around them, almost as if he expected someone to jump out and slaughter them. And even if that were to happen, she didn’t know how to tell him that she couldn’t protect them. Her Slayer senses weren’t working and she had been feeling weaker since the day before- it was the exact same feeling she had when Giles had been drugging her for her 18th birthday.

She had been so lost in thought that she didn’t realize Giles was staring at her until he said her name, the pure terror in his voice bringing her out of her thoughts.

“What’s wrong?” she asked softly when she noticed his body trembling.

“You’re going to leave me.” He whispered, his arms wrapping around himself. “You’re going to leave me and he’s going to hurt you.”

She narrowed her eyes when he kept repeating that she was going to leave him. It didn’t seem to matter that she was assuring him she wouldn’t leave him, and it was starting to scare her that she couldn’t get through to him. She sighed and moved to sit next to him, grabbing his hand and looking at him.

“Giles, I am not leaving you. Okay?” she said when he was finally staring at her, the unchecked fear in his pale green eyes scaring her more than the trembling. “You need to stop this, okay? I can’t…you’re the strong one, remember? I need you to be strong so we can find Willow and Xander, and get the hell out of here.”

There was a pause and she allowed herself to hope that she had finally gotten through to him. Her hope quickly died when he leaned forward and desperately kissed her. She pulled back and looked at him.

“Giles…what’s going on?”

“Buffy, please. I…you can’t leave me.” Even his voice was trembling as he looked at her. “I just…please.”

She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off when he attached his lips to hers once again in a desperate kiss. Giles’ arms wrapped around her in a tight hold, preventing her from pulling back or pushing him away. Buffy was faintly aware of her Watcher begging her to stay with him in between kisses.

“I’m not going anywhere.” She promised just before she started returning his kisses, a small part of her hoping that she could get through to him if she returned his affections.

It seemed to work. The trembling in his body lessened, even though his hold didn’t let up and his kisses didn’t stop being anymore desperate then they already were. She closed her eyes as he moved to nuzzle her neck, placing kisses along the skin he found there. Buffy sighed and held him close as he continued to repeat the action, glad that she had found a way to give him some small form of comfort.

She wasn’t sure how or when it happened, but all she was aware of now was the fact that her Watcher was guiding her hips as she moved above him. She was briefly aware that she wasn’t as freaked out about what they were doing as she should have been, but that thought passed when she found herself on her back and Giles moving frantically inside her. She clutched his back as her legs wrapped around his hips, a soft moan leaving her lips when she felt his teeth on her skin.

When his movements became more frenzied, Buffy found herself gasping as she went over the edge with him. She held him to her, absentmindedly playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. She felt Giles mumble something against her neck but was too busy wrapping her mind around what happened to have heard what he said. Giles moved to her side and pulled his jeans back up before wrapping his arms back around her, the fear induced trembling back one again.

“Don’t make me leave.” His voice was hoarse and shaky as he stared at her, dread written all over his face.

“I won’t. You’ll stay with me until we get out of here.” She promised as she held him back, softly kissing him in an effort to calm him down.

They stayed like until they both fell asleep, the fire slowly dying next to them. When Buffy woke in the morning, she felt panic grip her when she found no sign of her Watcher anywhere.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He wasn’t sure what had compelled him to wake up in the middle of the night and leave Buffy’s side, but now he was wishing he never had. He wanted to turn around and go back, hoping that Buffy was still where he had left her. He didn’t…no, couldn’t continue down the trail by himself. He had no idea where he was or where he was going, and he couldn’t seem to shake off the feeling that he was being followed.

Every now and then, Giles would run and hide under a cluster of bushes when he heard a branch snap or a voice calling out in the distance. And that’s where he was now- hiding in the bushes as someone approached. He held his breath as the figure came closer, stopping just in front of where the Watcher was hiding. Giles peered through the small gaps in the leaves at the figure, covering his mouth to keep him from making a noise when he saw a frantic looking Xander. He watched the younger man wipe at something above his eye, his hand dropping to his side with blood now on it.

Giles swallowed as he never took his eyes off of Xander, afraid that if he stopped looking at him then his friend would find him. He wasn’t sure how long he watched Xander, but he was aware of Willow’s voice ringing out from somewhere around them. Xander’s head snapped in the direction he had just come from. His hands balled into fists as his body tensed up, and Giles wasn’t sure if he was imagining the faint sound of the swing band music or if it was actually playing.

“No.” he said barely above a whisper as he watched Xander stalk off towards Willow’s voice.

He wanted nothing more than to stop hiding and run after Xander to prevent him from hurting Willow. But no matter how much he willed his body to do so, it wouldn’t move. So instead of coming to the young Wicca’s rescue like he so desperately wanted to, Giles stayed hidden in the bushes and listened to the screams that echoed from where Xander had stalked off to. He closed his eyes when the screaming stopped, his stomach churning at the thought of what had happened.

The complete silence nagged at the older man to move before Xander came back and found him. And that’s what he did. With the agility he didn’t even know he had, Giles tore his way out of his hiding place and set off at a run. He didn’t know where he was going and he didn’t care, he just needed to get away from his deranged friend. Even the sound of Buffy’s voice yelling Xander’s name didn’t stop his running.

And when the sounds of a struggle sounded louder than it should have for the amount of distance that was between him and the others, Giles couldn’t help but hate himself as he left Buffy to deal whatever it was that Xander was doing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He didn’t know how long he had ran, but he finally stopped when he felt pavement under his feet instead of the leaf-covered dirt of the last few days. Giles closed his eyes and doubled over, finally letting out the bile that had been rising in his throat since he had heard Willow’s screams. The music he had begun hearing minutes after he started running had finally stopped, only to be replaced with the echoes of the screaming from his friends. He kneeled down once he had completely emptied his stomach and then some, ignoring the feeling of blood coming from his ear again.

The Watcher wanted to go back into the woods and find his friends, even hunt down Xander for what he had done. But Giles couldn’t bring himself to go back and find that trail. He needed to be as far away as possible, and even though he was out on a road, he was still too close. He moved his hands to his temple, his fingers gripping his hair as he tried to block out the mental images the echoing screams where giving him.

So caught up in trying to erase the mental images that he didn’t notice the car coming towards him until the loud, harsh horn sounded. Giles managed to jump out of the way before the car hit him. He groaned as his head hit the road when he landed in the other lane, his reflexes too slow for him to catch himself. He rolled on to his back as he heard running footsteps coming towards him. He knew that he needed to get up and run before Xander caught him, but he was too exhausted to care.

Instead of running away again, Giles closed his eyes and let the footsteps come closer. There was no point in getting help anymore. All his friends were gone.


	6. Chapter 6

The paranoia was finally starting to die down, only ever hitting Giles full force when his sleep was plagued with dreams of that damn trail. He sat on the window seat of his hospital room and stared out the window. Once he had made it out of the woods and collapsed on the road, he had been found by a passing couple and taken straight to the emergency room. Besides the mental damage, the only thing the Watcher suffered from was slight damage to his eardrum. But he was willing to take a small loss of hearing if it meant that he was as far from the YellowBrickRoad as possible.

Even though he had been put in the psychiatric ward for what the doctor had called a mental breakdown, Giles was assured that the local authorities were looking for his friends. It only took a matter of hours from when he was admitted to the hospital that Willow, Xander, and Buffy were found. He wasn’t allowed to see them once they were admitted into the hospital, but one of the nurses usually updated him on what was happening. And after a few days, Buffy was released and became the one to give him news on Xander and Willow. Of course, the Slayer hadn’t been allowed in his room while he was still mentally breaking down but that had come to a gradual stop two days ago. Not that he was leaving anytime soon, the doctor still wanted him under psychiatric evaluation to make sure he wasn’t going to revert back to how he had been when he first arrived.

“Giles?” the sound of Buffy’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

He turned around to find his Slayer standing in the doorway, a small smile on her face. He watched her walk further into the room and pull one of the small chairs closer to his perch at the window.

“I thought you weren’t coming by today.”

“I did too, but then I thought that today might be the day Willow wakes up from her coma or the day Xander gets better. Or the day you get released.” She explained as she sat down. “How are you doing anyways?”

“The same as I was yesterday, only no nightmares last night.” Giles replied, leaning against the window.

“Yay for small victories, huh?”

They shared a small smile before falling into silence. The Watcher looked back out the window for a moment, staring down at the sidewalk below his room. He let the silence continue for a moment more before looking back at Buffy.

“Have you seen Willow and Xander, or am I the first one on your visit?” he asked.

“Willow still hasn’t woken up, but her brain activity is getting stronger. So…hopefully in a few days she’ll be up.” She told him.

“Will there be any damage?”

“Doctor said it’s hard to tell right now, but the strong brain activity is a good sign that there won’t be too much brain damage. I guess Xander didn’t really do as much damage as we thought.” At the slight confused look on Giles’ face, Buffy continued. “I know he did damage, but it’s not as bad as I thought when I saw them. I thought he had actually split her skull and gotten to the brain. Turns out, the head just bleeds a lot when the scalp’s cut up. You’d think I’d know that from all of your head injuries.”

Her last statement earned a small chuckle from him.

“The only thing he did to her skull was indent it slightly.” She finished once the chuckling had died down. “And then I went and checked in on Xander.”

There was a pause as Buffy looked at him, and he knew that she was looking to see how he’d react to that. During his breakdown, he had to be restrained due to how he reacted at the news that Buffy had been left alone with the younger man. His conviction that Xander was going to hurt Buffy had come from the paranoia, and now he knew better.

“How is he?” Giles asked, noticing the brief look of relief on his Slayer’s face.

“Still fluctuating between remembering and not remembering what he did.”

When Xander had been brought into the hospital, he had been knocked unconscious by Buffy when he had attacked her in the woods. And since then, there were times when he knew what had happened but had no recollection that he was the one who had beat Willow with a rock and the one who nearly sent a stick through Buffy’s heart- although, Giles was still trying to figure out how the stick had been embedded in the blonde without breaking. Then there were the days where Xander remembered everything and had to be sedated for his own safety.

“He’s on suicide watch now.” Buffy continued. “I guess he broke the mirror in the bathroom and tried to slit his wrists with a piece earlier today. But when I was there, he was back to not remembering what he did. He just knew that me and Willow were hurt, and that the bad man did it. Why do you think Xander keeps talking about this bad man?”

“Because, according to him, that’s who was following us back on the trail. And the one responsible for that music.” Giles explained, rubbing the back of his neck. He hated talking about the music that they had heard on the trail, some part of him believing that he would hear it again if he talked about it.

“I got that, but…there was no one. And I didn’t feel anything weird.”

“No, but your Slayer abilities were also being messed with while we were there. My guess is that Xander was somehow tuned in with the trail and felt a presence none of us were aware of.”

“So you think the the bad man is what? A demon?”

“More like a spirit of some sort.” Giles said. “One that decided to possess Xander.”

“Do you think he’s still possessed?”

Giles shook his head gently. “No. I think the bad man left either when you knocked Xander out, or when the three of you were taken out of the woods.”

Buffy let out a small sigh or relief and relaxed a little bit in the chair. 

“And how are you doing?” he asked.

“Fine. You can’t even tell that I had a stick impale my chest.” She said with a little smile. “Slayer healing kicked in once I got here and there’s not even a scar.”

“I meant your Slayer abilities.” He said with a brief smile. “Nothing’s off or anything?”

“Nope. You wouldn’t even be able to tell that they stopped working.”

“Good.”

There was another round of silence as Watcher and Slayer slipped into thoughts of the events that had happened on the trail. Giles cleared his throat slightly to get Buffy’s attention, taking a deep breath once her eyes were on him.

“I’m sorry.” He said softly.

“For what?”

“For…for what I did the night I left you in the woods.” Giles clarified, knowing he needed to apologize for that in case he went back to having a series of paranoid days.

“You mean the sex?” he looked down and nodded slightly. “Giles, if I didn’t want it then I would’ve stopped you. I let it happen because you needed it. And, hey, it wasn’t all that bad. So don’t apologize.”

“Yes, but…”

“No. It happened, no one was hurt, and that’s it.” Buffy cut him off, giving him a reassuring smile when he opened his mouth to protest. “Don’t try to make yourself look like a bad guy for what happened, Giles. Friends have sex with each other all the time. I’m not mad or disgusted or whatever it is you seem to think I am. Okay?”

He nodded slightly and let the subject drop. The two talked about this and that for a few more minutes before Buffy announced she was going to head back home. She stood up and walked over to him, giving him a hug and brief kiss on the cheek. When she pulled back, Giles looked at her with a puzzled expression.

“What?” she asked when she noticed his look.

“You didn’t need to do that to prove you’re not mad.” He told her.

“I know. I wanted to.” Buffy laughed softly as his confusion grew. “You brought it up, so I’m just going to put it out there. When you get out of here, we should do dinner.”

“Dinner?”

“Yeah. When you were wigging out that night, you kissed me for a reason other than being scared and paranoid, right?” Giles looked down as a slight blush appeared. “So I thought we could do dinner and see if something good could come from what we’ve been through.”

“And that something good would be?” he prompted, still confused as to where this was coming from.

“That something good would be us as a couple. Kissing you and sleeping with you didn’t repulse me as you seemed to think it had, and I want to see if what I’ve been feeling since then is the real deal.” She explained as she looked at him. “So…dinner when you’re released?”

Before he could really process what Buffy had said, Giles agreed and, after another round of goodbye, found himself alone in his hospital room. He stared at the door for a few good moments as what he agreed to finally hit him. With a small smile, the Watcher made his way to the bed and thought over everything.

He knew Willow would wake up soon and be brain damage free. After all, she was a strong young woman and if she was showing strong brain activity while in a coma then she’d wake up and probably only have a major headache for a bit. He also knew that Xander would eventually remember everything and, with the help of everyone, would know that it wasn’t his fault and that no one blamed him for what happened to them. And while he didn’t know if his dinner with Buffy would lead to something more, he did know that their relationship hadn’t suffered and for that he was grateful.

As he settled into the bed and let his eyelids drift close, he thought he could hear the swing band music far off in the distance. Even if the music was playing, the faintness of it told Giles that they were all out of harm’s way. The bad man, whoever or whatever he was, couldn’t get to any of them outside of YellowBrickRoad. And with that knowledge, the Watcher let himself fall asleep easily for the first time since he first heard that damn music.


End file.
